Sproti. Can ancient forest resources explain a complicated semantic field?

Abstract

The Old Norse noun sproti (masc.) displays a variety of meanings, only some of which are preserved in Modern Icelandic. The present article seeks, largely on the basis of material from the Copenhagen Dictionary of Old Norse Prose (ONP), to map the usage of the term and its compounds. Many of the occurrences in old texts have religious overtones, either Christian – partly as a translation of Lat. virga – or pagan – especially in connection with the god Óðinn, while others concern tales of magic and fantasy. Down-to-earth use of the term is too rare for its basic meaning to clearly occur. It is, however, tempting to connect it with the common practice of coppicing or pollarding trees for a variety of uses, from tree hay to firewood, including any sort of poles or sticks. The term sproti would then primarily refer to the young stems harvested from such trees and secondarily to fancier magic wands and regal sceptres, even when made of ivory or gold. The Odinic reyrsproti and laufsprotimight then refer to tender stems used, respectively, for fastening (cf. vb. reyra ‘tie’) and for animal feed.